Summer of the Sequel

More often than not, I am going to remain faithful to the idea of writing about comic books, the hobby of collecting, etc. Every now and then, however, I'm going to pop out on a little side trip to movie land...there's enough related between the genres (especially with the number of adaptations that have been spit out by Hollywood recently).

I did some research recently, and it appears that the movie mill is scheduled to spit out 42 sequels this year. Some will go direct to video (as I suspect Goonies 2 and an Arnold-less True Lies 2 are slated for that fate), others will hit the cinema, as some already have to great expectation and fanfare. There is a certain fan annoyance factor that comes with this sort of thing (the old question of "can Hollywood do anything original?"), but I have to admit that it's smart marketing on the part of the producers. By going sequel, you know there's a built in audience waiting to create an emotional connection with characters they connected with in the first film (28 Weeks Later notwithstanding).

In an effort to feed our unending appetites that demand more, bigger, louder, Hollywood and points abroad have given the fanboy in all of us the following seventeen films that the comic-book/fantasy/horror/sci-fi crowd is likely to take a gander at, some of which even have comic book or video game ties...

28 Weeks Later, the follow up to 28 Days Later
AVP 2, sequel to Aliens v. Predator, originally explored in Dark Horse comics
The Bourne Ultimatum, the third adaptation of the Robert Ludlum trilogy
Day Watch, the sequel to the Russian vampire film Night Watch
Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer, from the trailers, appears to be an adaptation of the Galactus story from the 1960's that first introduces the Surfer (however, there is no mention of Galactus on IMDB...so, who knows?)
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
Hostel: Part 2
Jeepers Creepers 3 (I'm guessing this one is going straight to video)
Live Free or Die Hard
National Treasure 2: Book of Secrets
Oceans 13, kind of impressive - two sequels out of a remake of a Sinatra film
Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End
Resident Evil: Extinction
Saw IV
Shreck the Third
Spiderman 3
Wolverine (a prequel featuring the X-Men fav, true believers...sorry, had to get my Stan Lee reference in, also likely to spill into next year rather than this one).

This doesn't take into account other sequels slated to go into production, such as the next Harry Potter, the next Sin City, and even the Batman sequel that's currently being shot. For those of you looking for something original...don't look to Hollywood. Hell, even most of the comic books out there are derivative...and I still enjoy 'em.

Enjoy the cinema ladies and gents, looks like this summer it's gonna be a familiar place to be.